Two Month in Pictures

Since it's easier to just post pictures of my life instead of writing about it... here you go. I was going to put them in chronological order but that was going to take a lot of rearranging so just pretend:

Taken at Coumba Ndao, the apartment style hotel we stayed at the first two days upon arrival. Coming into Dakar was intense. No words can describe how I felt that first few days. Jet lag and panic might be two good words to start with.

VDN, one of the main routes that snakes through Dakar. I had the chance of having to cross this every morning on the way to culture and Wolof classes in Dakar.

More VDN

Crossing.

Car rapide. These things are cheap as heck. Mass transportation at it's finest. I already talked a little about these in an earlier post, but to recap: A boy hangs, literally, off the back and shouts the general direction the car is headed. No seat belts, windows, or any system of organization needed. Find a seat or stand and you're flying on your way for only 150cfa ~ $0.30

Joleen's front street. I walked a long this many a time. It's usually full of people sitting out side in chairs in front of their houses.

Vegetables for making ceebu jen, the national dish of Senegal. Ceebu jen is made with red or white rice and has a delicious, spicy sauce with vegetables and fried, whole fish.

Looking very fierce pounding the spices to stuff the fish with.

Fish. Yumm.

Eating the finished product. Unfortunately I don't have any better pictures of the whole dish. However, you can see that Andrew and I took the easy way out by eating with a spoon and Joleen took the traditional Senegalese route by eating with her hand (right hand only.)

Hanging out in my dorm and my mosquito net fell on me. Joleen thought it would be fun to take a picture. Note the Senegal jersey. Yeah baby!

My hair is getting long! I'm not going to cut it while I'm here so we'll see how long it gets :) Joleen is going to play hairdresser and give me a few trims here and there.

The Haitians! They wanted a photoshoot with us. Everyone dresses that classy all the time when they go to school. It's ridiculous. L to R: Fleurant, Kate, Bertrand, Joleen

Joleen and I playing with the photobooth feature on my computer. We're pretty silly.

The infamous Tomtom. He passed out on the floor one night and I decided to take a picture. What a strange kid.

The next few pictures are from Kate's birthday dinner at La Saigonnaise. This would be Andrew and Joleen giving an accurate impression of Joleen's 4-year-old sister when she's feeling sassy.

Ananas Flambé! Kate's birthday dessert.

Joleen and I looking classy, comme d'hab.

Looking quite happy with Diablos (Sprite with Grenadine or Menthe)

Being weird like usual.

They love each other. I promise.

Kate started the placemat on fire when she tilted her flaming pineapple dessert a little too far forward. Luckily with my quick thinking I was able to put it out with a nearby spoon. [Reenactment.]

Masse and Kate hanging out with mac and cheese we got in a care package. Our Senegalese friends were not as impressed with the kraft creation as we were.

Modou Fall and Joleen enjoying the m&c.

Making Ditak juice with my sister. This is the beginning of the juice- crushed ditak fruit that is mixed with water, more than a kilo of sugar, and a splash of mint. Tastes like heaven.

My little brother, Mustapha. Don't be fooled by his cuteness- he cries all the time. It's cool and all except when you're trying to sleep at 6am.

Transportation

Transportation here is awesome. Taxis cost $3.00 max to go anywhere in the city. Even cheaper are the buses and car rapides. Busses run on no apparent timetable and have no indicated stops and/or maps with routes. Apparently they come every half hour-ish and you are just supposed to know where they go. But, at only 150 cfa ~ 30 cents, it’s hella cheap. Just take a Senegalese friend who knows what’s up. Same goes for the car rapides, which I prefer because they are way more baller. It’s this old van/ bus looking thing decked out in bright colors with streamers hanging off the back and jam packed with people. A boy called the apprenti hangs quite literally from the back of the bus and shouts the general direction where the car rapide is headed. You hop on and pay your 100cfa ~20cents and if you’re lucky you can sit down, otherwise you get to stand squished between lots of other gross bodies. To get off at a stop you take a coin and rap the metal ceiling to let the driver or apprenti know you’re getting off. The apprenti then smacks the side of the bus a few times for good measure to make sure the driver knows what’s up. You hop off and bam! you’re at your destination (generally.) No windows or seatbelts required.

There are no stop signs, traffic lights, speed limits, or any discernible traffic laws. Lanes are marked (sometimes) but one-lane roads are often turned into two lanes when taxis and cars just pass each other as they please. It’s like the whole entire country is playing chicken with their vehicles. Aggressive driving to say the least. On my walk to the Baobab Center in the morning I get to cross the VDN which is 6 lanes traffic, both directions. It’s exactly like playing frogger. Cars rule the road here and people don’t believe in crosswalks (since there aren’t any anways.) That, and the government apparently didn’t believe in building sidewalks when they created this road system. Walking is a multitasking feat. You can either look at all your surroundings and trip every two feet, or you can look at your feet and stay level but not get to check anything out. Sidewalks don’t exist and the side of the road that kind of resembles a sidewalk half of the time is covered in rubble, a puddle, garbage, or sheep. People don’t believe in garbage cans here so if you have trash you just throw it on the ground where you are. I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to embrace that habit during my stay here.